DURHAM – There’s plenty that would remain familiar to Wake Forest fans regarding a baseball player who could be counted on for massive blasts and regular production.

But it’s not entirely the same Bobby Seymour who they knew several years ago.

Now just a step away from the major leagues in the Tampa Bay Rays organization, a few things have changed.

Meet Bob Seymour.

“I got older. I should probably change it to Bob,” he said of that decision prior to spring training. “Might be that time. I’m about to be 26 coming up here soon. I figured it might be time to mature. … Maybe we should drop the ‘Bobby.’ I don’t need to be ‘Bobby’ anymore.”

Call him what you want, he’s still a slugger.

Seymour arrived in Triple-A with the Durham Bulls at the end of June, a midseason promotion to the top affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays.

“Being up to Triple-A, everybody knows how close they are,” he said.

Right away, Seymour had Bulls fans looking far from the plate as he bashed monster-style home runs. He went deep in his Bulls debut against Lehigh Valley for the farthest ball he hit as a pro.

“Bob hit a ball 460 feet onto the concourse on a high curveball,” Durham manager Morgan Ensberg said.

The adrenaline was flowing that night. He sprinted out of the batter’s box as the ball sailed over the fence in right-center field.

“In the moment, I felt like a little kid,” he said. “My first full week being here, I was playing with nerves.”

Yet it wasn’t his first homer at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. That came for Wake Forest in a game against Duke.

This is a few years later and Seymour, who at 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds won’t be mistaken as little, has launched another level of his career.

“Being up here has been pretty cool,” the first baseman said. “Seeing guys who have been to the big leagues and how they go about it. It’s very professional, guys go about it the right way. It’s cool to be in this environment. In the Rays organization, I feel that we’ve had that each step of the way.”

Seymour’s time at Wake Forest came amid the interruption from the pandemic. He was a starter since his freshman season, then as 2019 sophomore was the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Player of the Year.

The quest for constant improvement is something he embraced with the Deacons.

“I kind of learned in college that if I have an off day, what can I do to get better?” he said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s in the weight room, getting some swings. Coming out there doing early work (with) ground balls. It’s a good way to really start to succeed in baseball.”

He became Tampa Bay’s 13th-round draft selection in 2021.

From there, he has made a steady climb.

“You see it at each level, there’s definitely a jump at each level,” he said. “There’s definitely an adjustment period in there. The arms here, you face a lot of guys who have big-league time or on the cusp of it.”

After homering nine times in 66 games for Montgomery and the notable Bulls debut, the summer became more rewarding. Seymour ripped home runs in four consecutive games in July at Charlotte.

Then came five home runs across three games vs. the Memphis Redbirds. That rivaled stretches he had for the Deacons in 2021, including eight long balls in six games.

His fourth multi-homer game with the Bulls came Sept. 8 in a 15-5 road romp against the Columbus Clippers, part of a three-homer, eight-RBI performance. For good measure, he homered in the next game against the Norfolk Tides.

Catcher Kenny Piper followed Seymour from Double-A Montgomery to the Bulls, so they’ve played together plenty in recent years. Those power swings are pretty much the norm.

“Not a huge surprise. Got to see a lot of it,” Piper said. “A beast, with a lot of production.”

And through all those homers, Seymour even mixed in a few doubles – finally. He had hit five homers and 10 singles before doubling – two in the same game against the Gwinnett Stripers on July 23.

“That was nice to get that out of the way,” he said. “I had to show off the wheels a little bit. Now we’ve got two (doubles) and can build off that.”

It has been a steady display that might bode well for his future.

“Bob Seymour just drills baseballs,” Ensberg said. “The guy can just hit. This guy is a throwback. He does everything right. Everything that he can control, he does.”

Seymour was in his final Wake Forest season when pitcher Rhett Lowder was a freshman with the Deacons. Lowder’s college career ended in the College World Series in 2023, just weeks prior to being a first-round pick of the Cincinnati Reds.

“You really saw signs of how great he could be,” Seymour said.

Lowder reached the big leagues this summer, an accelerated track. On his way through the Reds system, there was time with Double-A Chattanooga. The Lookouts were home June 15 when Montgomery was the opponent.

Seymour remembers the game well, almost sheepishly taking about his two at-bats against Lowder – a single in the first inning, another single in the third. The latter described as a cheap one to left field.

“I remind him of the single to left,” Seymour said.

But, Bob, you’re batting 1.000 against one of baseball’s top pitching prospects.

“1.000 in pro ball,” he said. “I think he got me a few times in college.”

Seymour said he’s proud of the success Deacons have achieved in the pro ranks in recent years. Bulls relief pitcher Joe Record said it’s pretty much known if there’s a player out of Wake Forest, he’s going to be talented and ready to produce.

Seymour said his foundation became stronger because he went through the program.

“It’s awesome to see what Wake has done the past couple of years,” he said. “It’s really cool to see what that program is starting to do since I left. I wouldn’t change my years there for the world. Happy to be a part of it. What (coach Tom Walter) has done there is awesome. He has earned that success. Just the way Tom runs that program. All of us were suspecting it. Now being able to see it.”

And now, Wake fans checking on alums in the pros will see the name Bob Seymour.

When the players in the Rays organization gathered for preseason headshots, Seymour held “Bob” as the name designator.

“That’s all it took,” he said.

That name change is nothing drastic. And in Winston-Salem, Seymour is fine with whatever forename is used.

“With everyone from Wake, it’s still Bobby,” he said. “I think I’ll always be Bobby there.”